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 Team Canada's goaltender Roberto Luongo listens to instructions during practice in Toronto Sunday September 12, 2004. Canada faces Finland in the World Cup of Hockey final Tuesday Sept. 14th.(CP PHOTO/Ryan Remiorz) |
Martin Brodeur has been around a long time and knows how to say the right thing. Like this one yesterday when he was talking about his chances of being in the nets when Team Canada plays Finland in tomorrow's World Cup championship game: "It's a big game. It's something I'd like to be part of. I'm going to go with the same attitude I had in the Czech game. If I can't play 100%, I'd rather have Roberto (Luongo) there."
Sounds nice. And it may even be true. But it's not the widely held sentiment of the rest of the team.
It's not that Luongo is a bad goalie. Far from it. But even coach Pat Quinn admitted yesterday that "there were a couple of mucky goals" for the Czechs in their 4-3 overtime loss to Team Canada on Saturday.
As a result, there is a feeling among the players that they'd rather have Brodeur at 90% than Luongo at 100%. In fact, they'd probably rather have Brodeur at 80% or maybe even 75% if you assume that 20% of his game is his puckhandling.
Brodeur has injured ligaments in his left wrist. That's his catching hand and the determining factor regarding his availability, he says, is "if I'm able to handle the weight of my glove on my wrist.
"That's really what it is. I get a hard time. The pain is pretty sharp when I put the weight on my wrist."
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However, the situation is improving. Brodeur put his glove on yesterday, even though he didn't practise and "it was a lot better than it was (Saturday)."
But if it's just a matter of pain, what's the problem? Did they run out of needles at the Air Canada Centre?
But freezing wouldn't really help.
"If you don't have any feeling in your hand," said Brodeur, "It's hard to know where the puck's going."
That brings us back to the point about puck-handling being 20% of Brodeur's game.
He certainly excels in that aspect and uses it to great advantage. But it's still a frill.
It's not really an integral part of being a great goaltender.
"I'm able to play the puck even though I'm not able to squeeze my stick," he said. "The (problem) is just catching the puck. I'm here to stop the puck, not to play the puck all the time."
There's no doubt that as far as the team is concerned, even though Luongo may be the goalie of the future, Brodeur is the goalie of today.
For one thing, Finland plays a contained, conservative game. Some might call it downright boring. If the Finns muster 20 shots, it probably means the game went into four overtimes.
Luongo thrives on work -- which is just as well for a guy who makes his living playing for the Florida Panthers. The scouting report says that his game is not as sharp if he faces an opponent that doesn't keep him busy.
But Brodeur is more than accustomed to low-shot games and never loses his focus during long stretches of inactivity.
Furthermore, the Finns are not a particularly nifty offensive team. It's more important for a goalie to be positionally sound than to be acrobatic. Again, that's Brodeur over Luongo.
On Thursday, Brodeur let Luongo know that he might not be available for Saturday's game. Then, before the game, he offered him a few words of encouragement, told him to just go out and play his game and that all would be fine.
But tomorrow's game is still in limbo.
"I haven't talked to him about it too much," said Brodeur. "I think it's pretty clear with him playing the game (Saturday) that he should get himself ready to play. If I'm able to play, I'm just going to say: 'I'm okay,' and after that they'll make the decision on who they want to play."
Guess what, Marty? They already know.